Featured in Kindle Books

Explore More On Amazon

Stay in Touch

Amazon Editors

About The Amazon Book Review

Originally launched in 2007 as Omnivoracious (“Hungry for the next good book”), The Amazon Book Review has served as the place for the Amazon Books editors to talk about our passions, whether it be fiction or nonfiction, cookbooks or kids books, or your favorites in mysteries, romance, and science fiction. Here you’ll find interviews with your favorite authors,
Best Books of the Month announcements, reviews, and occasional essays on bestsellers and quirky trends. Visit us often for new stories, or have the latest delivered to your in-box via our
daily digest email.

Philip Athans on Building Immersive Sci-Fi & Fantasy Worlds

Special Announcement:Susan J. Morris (Writers Don’t Cry columnist) Philip Athans will both be appearing at Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, WA, on March 30th. Meet the authors as Susan discusses the secrets behind creating killer villains for games and books, and Philip discusses the ins and outs of the publishing business! Details at the end of this column.

Of course, the work required to build a world with such strong immersive properties is no small task—and it’s particularly intimidating when you’re facing the blank page of your book or outline. I mean, there’s a whole world at stake here—where do you even start? How do you know what decisions will make or break your sci-fi or fantasy world?

Fortunately, I was able to get a hold of New York Times best-selling author and editor Philip Athans, who has more than a little experience designing and maintaining worlds. A professional world-builder at Athans & Associates Creative Consulting, Philip also had a hand in maintaining The Forgotten Realms shared world for many years, creating the Fathomless Abyss world, and co-creating the shared world Arron of the Black Forest. A veteran on both sides of the red pen, Philip is ideally suited to help guide authors through creating their own rich, immersive fantasy and sci-fi worlds.

Susan:World building is such an intimidating concept. Why is it so important for fantasy and science fiction writers to establish a world for their stories? Can’t they just make it all up as they go along?